More focus on training Afghan troops: Canada

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Aug 2: Canada's troops in Afghanistan will increasingly spend the last 18 months of their assignment training Afghan soldiers so they can operate effectively once Western forces leave, beleaguered Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said.

O'Connor also criticized Canadian journalists, accusing them of twisting his words to imply he was arguing with the chief of the defense staff over how quickly the Afghans can be trained.

Canada's 2,600-strong military mission in the southern city of Kandahar is due to end in February 2009 and the minority Conservative government says an extension is very unlikely, given rising domestic opposition to the idea.

That prompts the question of who will maintain security in the region once the Canadians leave.

''In the 18 months we have left ... there will be more and more emphasis on operational training of the Afghan army,'' O'Connor told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of a meeting of Conservative legislators.

''We are trying to make the security forces of Afghanistan in our area as effective as possible.'' Prime Minister Stephen Harper is under heavy pressure to remove O'Connor, who critics say is incompetent and unable to handle the complexities of the Afghan mission.

The chances of him keeping the job appeared to diminish later in the day when officials said all government ministers had been told to stay in Ottawa the week of August 13 -- the kind of order which typically precedes a government reshuffle.

Possible replacements include Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Foreign Minister Peter MacKay.

Canada has lost 66 soldiers so far in Afghanistan and Ottawa regularly complains that it is bearing too much of the military burden.

''I'd love thousands more NATO troops in the south and the east but I'm not waiting for that, we're not waiting for that. We are training the Afghan army to take over their responsibilities,'' O'Connor said.

Asked whether the Afghan army would be in a position to take over in February 2009, O'Connor said he did not know.

He also denied he and Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier were arguing over how quickly the Afghan troops could be trained.

The two men made separate comments last month in which O'Connor seemed much more optimistic than Hillier.

''I don't make this stuff up,'' O'Connor said in emphasizing that he and Hillier were speaking from the same page.

''There's not an iota of difference between General Hillier and myself but you guys continue to try to create these differences and it doesn't assist,'' he said.

Reuters>